A New Life: College
by Crystal113
Summary: Brennan and Shalimar's daughter heads off to college in a world where New Mutants are in the open. AU. Abandoned. Juvenilia.
1. Leaving Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X. Keitha is my own character.  
  
A/N: This is an Alternate Universe fic. As in, Mutant X is like it was in Season 2. Emma is alive, and Adam is still leader and still mysterious. B/S  
  
Chapter 1: Leaving Home  
You'd think that I had never been on any missions the way my parents were acting- and some of them were dangerous ones, too. But I guess leaving for college isn't exactly the same thing as going on a mission. I'm leaving tomorrow. My parents are freaking out. Dad's being way too clingy; Mom isn't much better. Dad's really overprotective of me. I guess it's because I have never really been exposed to the outside world the way my parents were. I was home-schooled. Well, I went to kindergarten and part of first grade in a public school, but how is a six year old supposed to know how to control her powers? They had started to show up when I was about four, and all of us thought that I had enough control to go to a regular school. I didn't. Kindergarten wasn't that bad; first grade was. I had a horrible teacher who always blamed the girls for everything that went wrong in the classroom. One day she just started yelling at me for having slightly muddy shoes- it had been raining out. How was I supposed to keep my shoes clean? Well, let's just say I lost control. Electricity shot out of my hands and onto my teacher. Luckily, I wasn't at my full power yet. It didn't even hurt her; it was like a static electricity shock. But I spent the rest of the afternoon in the office. My parents weren't too happy. I was allowed back at school. I didn't stay past the next week. Everyone was afraid that I would shock them next. Everyone in my grade stayed away from me. The people in the upper grades knew that what I could do wasn't humanly possible. But I had done it. And those kids started calling me a mutant.  
And that taunt was absolutely true. I'm a New Mutant. Second generation. My parents: Brennan Mulwray and Shalimar Fox, well, Mulwray now. They got married in a civil ceremony a year before I was born. Adam's my adoptive grandfather. I've never met my real grandparents. From what my parents tell me, I'm glad to never have met them. Mom's father threw her into an asylum, for God's sake! My Dad's home life wasn't much different, plus he lived on the street for years. Emma, she's an aunt. She just got married two years ago. She and her husband Bryant have this adorable one year old. Well, he's adorable if you don't count the fact that he's now getting into everything. Plus, guess who gets stuck with baby sitting? Jesse, he's still single. I doubt he'll ever get married. He just doesn't have that much luck with women. Plus, he's in his forties, so it's harder to find women who will go out with him.  
Anyways, I'm leaving for college in, oh, twelve hours. Everything is packed and put in the van that we're taking. I wanted to take the Helix II, but Adam said it would be too noticeable. Like I care. But he's right. New Mutants aren't exactly treated well. Yeah, we're out in the open. Not Mutant X's choice. A group of New Mutants came out into the open about ten years ago. Now it seems like almost every other week that Adam's in D.C. lobbying Congress to pass a Mutant Rights Bill or something. It's supposed to protect our Constitutional rights- and keep us from having to be registered or something. Thankfully, nothing like that has come up, or if it has, I haven't heard about it. This isn't the X-men. No, it's reality- and I have to live in a world that hates what I am.  
Adam is now a well known person. Mutant X is not. Therefore, only my parents are dropping me off at college. They don't want me known as a New Mutant until it's inevitable. So that's why we can't take the Helix II- and why my grandfather can't come. So it's just going to be me and my parents. Moving everything from my room here to my room at college. I have a roommate. Freshman aren't allowed singles. Not unless there's a valid reason. And being a New Mutant isn't one. That figures. So I'm probably stuck with a girl who hates me for being born different. Oh, well. She doesn't have to know. I can control my abilities now- both of them. I'm a feral like Mom and an Elemental like Dad. So, tomorrow's college. My parents won't know what to do with themselves anymore. They spoiled me rotten. Everyone did. I was the only child in Sanctuary until a year ago. And now I'm an adult and going off on my own. I won't admit it to my parents, but I'm a little scared. Who wouldn't be?  
  
A/N: Tell me if you like this concept. If I get enough people who like it, I'll continue it. Well, I'll probably continue it anyways. So, please R &R. 


	2. Arrival

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X- just my characters and the story line.  
  
A/N: Here's the next part. Enjoy! And I will get back to Challenges, but I've got a bad case of writer's block with it. And then this popped into my head and I had to get it out. So, R & R.  
  
Chapter 2: Arrival  
Six damn hours in the car. The Helix II would have gotten us there in less than an hour. Not fair. So I had to put up with my parents giving me tons of advice. How they got all of it, I don't know. Neither of them went to college. Out of all of Mutant X, only Adam and Emma did. Well, Emma's husband did, too. I just hope that my home schooling is good enough. I'm going to major in biology, specifically genetics. How could I not? I've lived and breathed genetics since the time I was a baby. I used to help my grandfather in the lab when he needed it. He is in his early seventies, after all. But it's very interesting hearing the advice my parents are giving me. Half the time they're repeating themselves and the other half they're contradicting each other. So, after six hours of practically nonstop advice, we finally arrived at my college.  
It's private and has around two thousand students. Not too bad. I actually might be able to get a date here. I've never had a boyfriend. Home schooling kind of ruins the chances a teenager has of meeting the opposite sex- at least if you're home schooled miles away from the nearest town. And the only friends I really had were the New Mutants in the Underground that were around my age. I was sheltered, but my parents made sure that I'm not naive in the ways the world works.  
But back to my campus. It's pretty nice. Practically everything on campus is within walking distance. So my parents said I didn't need my car. That's not fair. Instead, I brought my bicycle. It's so not fair. I like to be able to get to places fast. What if a New Mutant's in trouble or something? So we parked the can, managed to find my dorm, get my key, and go up to my room. That's when I first met my roommate.  
My first reaction: Yikes! Her stuff was strewn everywhere- including on my side of the room. My initial reaction was worsened by the poster I saw above her bed. It said Let's Cleanse the Earth of All the Mutants! I could tell right away that we weren't going to get along that well. She was putting stuff in her closet when we came in. She turned around and looked at us. She was tan, with long brown hair. Her eyes were two shades lighter than the color of her hair. She was about five seven. She was wearing a red tank top and white jean shorts. A silver bracelet was on her left arm.  
"Hey, I'm Tabitha, Tabby for short."  
She stuck out her right hand. I shook her hand and introduced myself.  
"I'm Keitha. These are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mulwray."  
"Nice to meet you. I'll move my stuff off of your bed as soon as I finish putting all this away."  
She waved her hand over her bed. Clothes were stacked in piles on top of it. I shook my head, knowing that she would never need all of them. I told her that we needed to get my stuff up here. She shrugged and went back to putting stuff in her closet. We managed to bring everything up in about half an hour. Having two ferals really made the work go fast. After we made the last load, I said goodbye to my parents. Both of them were crying. They didn't want to leave. Before they drove off, I heard Dad say to Mom that we should have taken the Helix II. I smiled then. Dad knew that I had heard. He knows feral hearing far too well.  
I went back up to my dorm room and started unpacking. All of Tabitha's clothes were on her side of the room now. I managed to put everything away in about two hours. That's when my RA decided to have a hall meeting. And guess what that hall meeting was about? The New Mutants on campus. Apparently, all of the freshman New Mutants are all on this floor. We aren't required to let people know that we're New Mutants. And there's only about twenty of us total. And that's a lot considering the size of the campus. Well, I'm not telling that I'm a New Mutant. If others want to, that's their choice. Well, there are two New Mutants on this floor besides me. And they share a room. Why did I have to get stuck with a mutant hater, and someone who will probably never respect my privacy?  
When we were allowed to leave the meeting, Tabitha immediately took down the sign from above her bed and hung it next to the door. I immediately put my poster outside: the one that reads MUTANT X LIVES. Tabitha glared at me. I just looked at her, silently daring her to take it down. She looked away and walked back into the room. She nearly shut the door in my face, but I pushed it open before she could do so. She glared at me again and threw herself onto her bed. I shook my head and started hooking up my computer. Within ten minutes, I was hooked up to the Net and talking to some of my friends. I heard her get up and walk behind me. I had just enough time to type NH (Normal Human) before she could read anything. I turned around and looked at her. She immediately backed away and left the room. She may act tough, but she was nothing more than a coward. But that didn't mean I'd trust her with anything. Hell, I felt that I could barely trust her to be alone in the room with my stuff.  
But I was hungry, so I decided to see what the cafeteria had to offer a hungry feral. So I walked over to the caf. There was a raging debate going on inside- about whether New Mutants are human. The typical debate. From the way most people were reacting, this was a regular occurrence. I ignored it. There wasn't much else I could do. So I ate alone and went back to my dorm room. When I got there, I found that my poster had been ruined. On it were the words: MUTANT X IS DEAD.  
  
A/N: Hope you're happy to have another chapter up so soon. It surprised me how fast I wrote- especially since I'm supposed to be writing an English essay. So, R & R. 


	3. Classes

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X. Don't sue me. I put in the disclaimer like I'm supposed to.  
  
A/N: I promise I'll get to Challenges sometime soon. I've some ideas, so hopefully I'm over my writer's block with it. Now, let's see. To all my reviewers, thank you. To all of those who read, but don't review, please do. One last thing, do any of you know how to make italics and bold stay that way? I have stuff typed in that format and it won't show up on here like that. Please tell me how to fix that problem in a review if you know how.  
  
Classes  
  
Well, I took down the poster. I couldn't do anything else with it. But Mutant X wasn't dead. I should know, being the team's youngest member. But anti- mutant people always have to destroy stuff that supports mutants. So I rolled the poster up, unlocked my door, and walked into my room. Tabitha, I couldn't bring myself to call her Tabby, was sitting on her bed reading one of the most anti- mutant magazines in print. She looked up at me when I dropped my poster on my bed. I asked her if she knew who had ruined it.  
"If you hang a poster like that up, what do you expect will happen to it? It's not like New Mutants are human."  
I narrowed my eyes at the last comment. Yes, I knew I was sheltered. That didn't mean that I had been sheltered from every hurtful comment. On missions, it was common to hear people talking about us in hateful tones, words, or gestures. It was something a New Mutant has to live with, but that doesn't mean we have to put up with it. So I answered her back.  
"Well, the last time I looked, I still had the right to free speech, even though my position is unpopular. I'm an American. The Bill of Rights protects my rights. Besides, what the vandal did was against the law. It's my property, not anyone else's. I want to know who ruined it."  
"Sorry, can't help you."  
She went back to her magazine. I sighed and started organizing my stuff. I had just started to organize my closet when someone knocked on the door. I answered it and saw the two New Mutants that lived on the floor. I let them in. When my roommate saw them, she jumped up from her bed and walked over to her door.  
"When I come back, those freaks had better be gone!"  
She slammed the door closed behind her. I shook my head and sat in the desk chair. The two girls sat down on the bed. I looked from one to the other. After a couple of minutes, I asked them what they wanted. They looked at each other. Finally one spoke.  
"I'm Kacela, Kay for short. This is Sara. I guess you know that both of us are New Mutants. I'm a canine feral, wolf actually. My dad's a New Mutant, Mom's normal. Sara can turn invisible."  
"Yeah, proper term's stealth," Sara added with a grin. "I'm a little shy. I told Kay that we shouldn't come down here, that it's a ploy to get hurt. As for my family, I'm the granddaughter of an original New Mutant, Danielle Hartman. Her daughter, Catherine, is my mother. And in case you're curious, I'm only sixteen. I skipped a couple of grades in elementary school."  
"I'm Keitha. I won't hurt you; my roommate might though. She doesn't like New Mutants."  
"And you do," Sara said, with just a hint of a question in her voice.  
"Considering the fact that I'm a elemental feral myself, yeah, I'd better," I replied. "My parents are Brennan and Shalimar Mulwray."  
"You're with Mutant X," Kay stated, looking at my comm ring.  
"The youngest member," I said with a grin.  
They grinned back at me. We knew that we were going to become close friends. They asked me if I wanted to go down to the cafeteria to get something to eat, but I told them I had already eaten. They left and within five minutes, my roommate came back in.  
"Glad to know those freaks are gone. I hope you told them to stay away."  
"No, I didn't. We're friends. Sorry, but unlike you, I don't judge people on their DNA. I judge them based on how they treat others."  
I sat down at my computer and started chatting to some of the members of the Underground that were online. I spent the rest of the evening doing that. I took my shower in the community bathroom down the hallway. All I have to say about that is 'Welcome to College'. I went to bed at about eleven.  
  
Two days later, classes started. I was taking General Chemistry, the lab that goes with that, English, Calculus, Biology and its lab, and a basic political science course. 17 credit hours. No problem. Biology is easy for me- especially a basic course. All of my classes were going to be easy. I guessed that the one that would give me the most problems was going to be English. Never liked that course. So I showed up early for Biology- my first class of the day.  
After we had all settled down, our teacher, Dr. Shapner, told us that she would tolerate no sleeping, eating, drinking, or daydreaming in her class. And she also told us that she does not think that New Mutants are human. She wouldn't let us debate that point.  
She said, and I quote, "This is a Biology class, not a Debate class. However, I do believe that there is one being offered the next building over in classroom 318. I will not discuss this anymore."  
She started lecturing that day. By the end of the week, I had met all my other teachers. My English teacher was great. Chem.- I had the same teacher for both the lecture and the lab- was okay, just a little strange. My Poly Sci teacher has a great sense of humor. My Bio Lab teacher had a fixation on cows- don't ask me why. The only thing I know about cows is that they're good to eat. So that's that.  
My roommate and I are not getting along. She has already asked to be moved twice. The problem is nobody else wants to move yet. And then my Biology teacher made an announcement at the end of class on Friday. A guest speaker is coming next week to talk about genetics and New Mutants. His name: Adam Kane.  
  
A/N: Please R & R. Constructive criticism welcome. 


	4. Visitors

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X. So don't sue me.  
  
A/N: Yippee, two papers due on the same day two weeks from now. Looks like this will be the last update for at least a couple of weeks. Sorry if that annoys you, but school does take precedence (most of the time).  
  
Visitors  
  
Adam Kane. My grandfather. The creator of New Mutants. One of the only people who sticks up for us in the Government. And he's coming here to talk. Of course he goes to a lot of schools and stuff to lecture. But this ought to be interesting. My Biology teacher wants me to go because I love genetics. But the thing is, she doesn't know Adam is my grandfather. And I have the feeling my parents are going to come to be his bodyguards and to see me.  
But the only people who know that I'm a New Mutant are Kay and Sara. They haven't told anyone else. My roommate would freak out and probably kick me out of the room or she would leave. I don't want to be found out- not right now. I want to have a normal life for once. It's not that I minded growing up in Sanctuary; it's the fact that I never really had any friends. I was spoiled rotten by the older members of Mutant X. But the only times I saw anybody my age was when we were putting kids in the Underground. There were always play dates at least once a month for kids in the Underground. It's not like I couldn't go to the park, or zoo, or something; it's just that I was always alone. There were times when my parents had to leave me alone with Adam for a week or two when they were on a mission. There were a couple of times when I had to pretend like I was visiting family because nobody was going to be in Sanctuary for a couple of days. Those were basically the only times that I had that let me live a normal life. So I wasn't sure if I wanted to see my parents.  
I woke up that morning with butterflies in my stomach. I looked out of my window and saw the field across the street from my dorm was blocked off. I shook my head and smiled. It looked like they were coming in the Helix II. My roommate also looked out the window and groaned.  
"Why can't those freaks come like a normal guest speaker? They're taking that stupid plane of theirs. And my political science teacher is making me go to his stupid talk," she complained.  
I looked over at her. She was glaring at me. I smiled and turned away. I grabbed my clothes and got dressed. I could care less what she did. I know for a fact that she snooped on my computer and went through all my stuff. It's kind of hard not to notice, especially when her smell is where it's not supposed to be. She would never find my diary or anything incriminating on my computer; everything that could hurt me by having it revealed is encrypted. I keep nothing important hidden in my room. I know better than to; I have no desire to have my secrets revealed.  
I went down to breakfast with Kay. Sara was still asleep. She looked over at the field and asked if that was where Adam and my parents were arriving. I told her yeah and that they were taking the Helix II. She smiled, barely showing her slightly elongated canine teeth. We went to class after we ate breakfast. Sara met us at the classroom. he looked barely awake. I handed her a cup of coffee and we went into the classroom. There, our teacher told us that Adam was arriving at three in the blocked off field. I looked over at my friends. They nodded. We were going to meet the Helix II there.  
The rest of the day was torture. I could barely concentrate in any of my classes. When two thirty came, Kay and Sara came to my room. We left and walked over to the field. When we saw the amount of people there, we stopped dead in our tracks. Most of the people around the ropes were anti- mutant. They were wearing T- shirts, carrying signs, and chanting logos that all had an anti- mutant bent. I noticed a small group of people at the other end of the field that were looking around them in fear. I saw a slight shimmer in the air around them and figured one of the New Mutants in that crowd could create shields of a sort. A small group of teachers and who seemed to be the school president was standing near the New Mutants. The three of us walked over to the group of New Mutants. When one of them spotted us, he leaned over and whispered to another man. He saw Kay and Sara and lowered the shield just long enough for us to get under it. A few people looked at me suspiciously. Then a husky masser like Jesse stepped in between me and the rest of the group. He asked me what I was doing there.  
I said, "I'm meeting my parents- Shalimar and Brennan Mulwray. I'm their daughter, Keitha. I'm the youngest member of Mutant X."  
I held out my ring for him to examine. He looked at it, smiled, and moved aside. A telepath said she's telling the truth. That's when I was surrounded by everyone who wanted to know what being a member of Mutant X was like. I answered as best as I was able. Then I heard a noise coming from the sky. I looked around and only the ferals in the group acted like they could hear it.  
I looked up and saw nothing. I switched to feral vision. I saw the heat signature of the jet. That's when everyone else heard the noise and looked up. That's when whoever was piloting the craft switched out of stealth mode. I heard gasps rising from most of the crowd. I shook my head. Those idiots had no idea that mutants had that technology. They really had no idea what they were up against if they did turn on us.  
The plane went into VTOL mode and landed. The ramp came down and Mom came out, followed closely by Adam. Mom was still as thin as the pictures she had taken of her when she was younger. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a nice shirt. Her face was more lined and less carefree. Her blond hair was starting to gray. Her eyes never missed a thing. When she saw me, a small smile crossed her face. I looked at my grandfather then. His hair was totally gray, his face was terribly lined, and he used a cane to get around. He was wearing glasses. He still wore his customary black. He looked around at all of the people and finally noticed us. He smiled at us and motioned for us to stay where we were. The two of them walked over to the group of teachers and started talking to them. Dad came out of the plane then, aimed a remote at it, and shut the ramp. He also walked over to where the teachers were. The whole group of them walked off. That's when people started talking again. A few idiots walked over to the Helix II and started trying to figure how to open it. One of them got frustrated at not being able to open it, and he kicked it. I winced. That idiot was going to get himself hurt. After most people had left, the shielder finally let down his shields. The whole group of us split up. Some of them went back to their dorms; others went to talk to some of their friends. The rest of us headed to the cafeteria to get ready for Adam's talk.  
When we walked in, we saw that all of the tables in the lower part of the cafeteria had been removed. Hundreds of chairs were set up in rows. The group of people that had met Adam and my parents were scurrying all around the room. Adam was standing next to the podium and talking to the school president. My dad was standing near one of the doors leading into the lower part of the caf from the hallway. The door was open and he was looking out of it. Mom was standing about ten feet from Adam. I walked down the stairs into the lower caf. My biology professor immediately intercepted me and told me to scram. I looked at her, told her no, and walked over to wear Dad was standing. He only noticed me when I was about ten feet from him.  
"I thought you were paying attention to your surroundings?"  
He turned around and smiled when he saw me. That's when my teacher caught up to me. She said my name. I turned around and asked her what she wanted. She said for you to follow my orders. By this time, everyone else in the cafeteria was looking at the two of us.  
I said, "I want to talk to my dad."  
Her jaw dropped when I said that. I turned around and walked over to my dad.  
"Hey, there," he said. "How's school?"  
"I think I just failed biology. She doesn't like New Mutants."  
I shrugged. Dad reached over and ruffled my short brown hair. I swatted his hand away and brushed my hair back into place with my fingers. He laughed.  
"You're just like your mother. Pity I didn't know her at your age. I know the boys are lining up to catch you."  
"Yeah, well, the fact that I'm a New Mutant is going to damper that down a little. Just the fact that I hang out with New Mutants has already put a dampener on my social life."  
Before we could talk anymore, both of us noticed students coming toward us. I sighed, and went to find a good seat with the rest of the New Mutants. They had managed grab the chairs immediately behind the teachers' seats. I walked over and grabbed the one seat in their section left. The leader of the group looked at me and asked why I wanted to talk to Brennan Mulwray. I shrugged and responded that he's my dad. I raised my eyebrows at him when his jaw opened. I guess he wasn't paying attention when I said that in the field. I look at lot like my dad. About the only thing I get from Mom is my eye color and wavy hair. I'm an intermediate in between their two heights. Before he could ask me any questions, the president of the college got up and started to speak.  
"Everyone, welcome. It is my pleasure to introduce Adam Kane, the noted biogeneticist and mutant rights activist."  
He moved away from the podium and everyone politely clapped. When Adam started to talk, everyone shut up. I'm not going to gi into the details of what he talked about, because that would take me twenty pages to type. Basically, he talked about what he did at Genomex- the unclassified portions, anyways. He talked about why he left Genomex. He talked, briefly, about Mutant X. Then he went into the genetics of mutants, how ferals and moleculars were recombinant DNA techniques, how elementals and psionics were deliberate missense mutations.1 He then talked about why New Mutants needed the Mutant Rights Amendment added to the Constitution. He wrapped up his talk by asking if their were any questions.  
I inwardly winced when he asked that. He was going to get a lot of bullshit. Immediately one person stood up and asked why he wanted to protect New Mutants because they weren't human. His answer: they are human and they are my children. He didn't get mad, he just looked like he got that type of question all the time. It was then that I realized he had. The politicians and other people must ask him stuff like that all the time.  
Half an hour later, the room was practically empty. The only people left in it were the teachers, the group of New Mutants, the college president, Adam, my parents, and me. The teachers started to leave one by one. The New Mutants went up to Adam and started to talk to him. The president was waiting for Adam to finish talking to the New Mutants. I went over and started to talk to my parents. When the group finally left, the college president walked over to my grandfather. Before they left, Adam said that he'd be fine if my parents didn't go with him. So my parents walked back to my dorm room with me. When we got up to my room, all of my stuff was out in the hallway.  
  
1. Recombinant DNA techniques- combining different DNA from different creatures into one.  
Missense mutations- changes in the base pairs so a different amino acid is made when the DNA is transcribed into RNA and then into a specific protein. (created a different proteins than what was originally supposed to happen.)  
  
A/N: Thanks to my biology textbook for that technical stuff. All of that is my theory, not official stuff, except for the part about ferals, because that's the only way to get animal DNA to mix with human DNA. Okay, now back to my regularly scheduled author's note. Please R & R. A big thanks to all who do! 


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